BRESAYLOR — From Battleford to Fort Pitt, the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Association will walk and stop and explore history all along the way from Aug. 9 to 18.
On Friday, Aug. 11 Bresaylor Heritage Committee will host a traditional Métis meal of stew and bannock sponsored by FCC. At the end of the day's walk, the group will gather at the Bresaylor Museum site to reminisce, and story tell. The meal sponsored by FCC is open, but registration is required so the committee can prepare the proper amount of food. Please register on Facebook on the Bresaylor Heritage Museum site. Bring a chair.
The amazing historic tour will begin with a self-guided tour of Fort Battleford, on Aug. 8. In the evening Historic Battleford townsite and Indian Residential School location and cemetery will be walked.
There will be tours of the Fred Light Museum, and the Baseball Hall of Fame, which will be hosted by the Battlefords North West Historical Society.
The group will make their way to the next overnight stop at Delmas stopping at the hall on the site of the Thunderchild / St Henri Residential School and the iconic St. Jean Baptiste Catholic Church.
As they make their way west, they will stop at Bresaylor, a community formed in 1882, and tour the museum. Along the way they will experience the actual Fort Pitt trail where Red River carts ruts on the prairie are still preserved in Charlie Sayers’ pasture, travelling on to the site of Father Cochin’s Mission where Harris Sayers erected a buffalo-shaped field stone with a plaque. Local guide and historian Bob Peterson will guide them past many sites including where the telegraph office was set up, markers of the original school and some of the oldest farm sites in the area — Bremner, Sayers, and Taylor.
Poundmaker Cree Nation’s renowned author, historian and storyteller who is deeply involved in preserving the culture of the indigenous people, Floyd Favel, will host the group at Poundmaker. They will see the museum and art gallery, the Cut Knife Hill battle sites and where the Bresaylor people encamped under the protection of Chief Poundmaker. Here is the final resting place of Poundmaker. There is an interpretive centre as well.
Moving west and north to Silver Lake, the stories and beauty of Pine Island and African Canadian history at Shiloh Baptist Church will be shared.
Also visited will be the Kenderdine homestead and Imhoff church paintings at Paradise Hill.
At Frenchman Butte is the museum and the National Historic Site of the 1885 battle.
The tour winds up Aug. 18 at the Fort Pitt National Historic Site.
Hugh Henry, organizer of the tour and many historic walks across Saskatchewan welcomes walkers, storytellers and history buffs along the way to join or stop and visit. Further information can be obtained by emailing [email protected].
Bresaylor Heritage Museum welcomes you to register for their gathering Aug. 11. Registration is required for the evening meal sponsored by FCC.
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